Life in prison rests on crime distinction

Twelve jurors deciding the fate of a young mother from Modesto have an all-or-nothing choice to make.

If they believe Monica Arias, 22, planned a carjacking that ended in the death of a man who worked as a machine operator at Hilmar Cheese Co., they will have to find her guilty of murder, and a judge will sentence her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If they believe Arias was an accessory to murder and only stole a dying man's car so she could flee the crime scene, as Arias and her defense attorney contend, she will go free.

As a three-week trial drew to a close Tuesday, a prosecutor and defense attorney offered dramatically different interpretations of the same evidence, though both sides agreed that Arias and her alleged partner in crime, Ramon Guardado, never planned to kill anyone.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gerald Begen told the jury that Arias and Guardado, who is being tried separately, are equally culpable and should be found guilty of murder. "It was Arias' idea to do the carjacking, and Guardado went too far," he said, adding that Arias stole to feed her $200-a-day drug habit.

Defense attorney Robert Wildman said Arias is guilty of driving a stolen car and being an accessory to murder, but never planned a carjacking and had no idea that Guardado would pull out a knife and kill 48-year-old Joseph Badal. "There was no carjacking here," said Wildman, who acknowledged that Arias was a drug dealer and made some bad choices.

The distinction -- carjacking or stealing the car after the stabbing -- lies at the heart of the case because Arias is being prosecuted under the felony murder rule. That law says deaths that occur during certain dangerous crimes, such as arson, carjacking or robbery, automatically amount to first-degree murder, whether a defendant intended to kill a victim or not.

Jurors do not have the option of convicting Arias on a lesser charge.

Arias and Guardado did not know Badal. But Badal, who was separated from his wife, had a romantic interest in one of Arias' friends. That young woman told Badal that he could reach her through Arias. Phone records show several calls between Arias and Badal, as well as Arias and Guardado, in the hour before Badal died.

Badal stumbled out of his Toyota 4-Runner shortly after 8 p.m. on May 10, 2006, in the 2400 block of Parkdale Drive. That was only nine minutes after Arias placed her final call to Badal's cell phone. A prosecutor said Arias and Guar-dado had driven Badal to a secluded area so they could steal his car.

The jury watched videotaped interviews that detectives had with Arias and Guardado. Arias told a series of lies, and her attorney argued that she was afraid to tell the truth because she was the sole witness to a murder.

Guardado, 23, of Modesto told a detective that he sat in the back seat and attacked Badal from behind, slashing his chin, forehead and shoulder before delivering a fatal blow that pierced Badal's heart. He said he acted on impulse because Badal took a swing at him after arguing with Arias.

Guardado is being held without bail, and Arias is held in lieu of $10 million bail.

A man who lived in the neighborhood southeast of Modesto called 911 after he heard the SUV hit a telephone pole, then saw a Latino man and young woman with a ponytail speed from the scene.

Arias was arrested at the wheel of Badal's SUV hours later; authorities arrested Guardado the next day.

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached atsherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.